Pro Tips with Jamie Snyder

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James Snyder

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Here are 3 types of retaining walls available for your project. They all have their pluses and minuses – let’s check them out.

Wood Tie retaining wall – Although sometimes referred to as a railroad tie retaining wall they are rarely made from railroad ties anymore. They are simply wood ties that are fastened together to perform the duties of a retaining wall.

Price:$$$$, 2 out of 4Difficulty:****, 2 out of 4

Pros:

Cost – A wood retaining wall can be very cost effective.

Easy – Wooden tie retaining walls are often installed by do it yourselfers. They require few tools and can be installed quickly by homeowners and landscape companies alike.

Beauty – A wood retaining wall can look great, making it the “old reliable” choice for many landscaping companies.

Cons:

Wood Rots – Wood will eventually rot. The new pressure treated stuff is amazing, but there will be a time when you will need to call your retaining wall installer to replace it.

Strength – While great for holding up a two foot tall plant bed A wood retaining wall would not be my first choice for more complex projects.

Price:$$$$, 3 out of 4 Difficulty: ****, 4 out of 4

Versatile – They can be used in a variety of situations to create curves, corners, stairs, columns, and more. SRW’s are often the choice of Landscape and Hardscape contractors.

Strength – One of the strongest, longest lasting types of retaining walls on the market.

Beauty – Block Retaining Walls look great, one of the mail reasons for their popularity, besides the two reasons above that is.

Speed – SRW’s install fast.

Cons:

Color Choice – SRW walls are only available in the colors that you see in the catalog.

Installers are not regulated – I have seen many block retaining wall failures and poor craftsmanship as a result of inexperienced retaining wall installers. While a small project may be just fine for a “new guy” the more complicated jobs require more experience.

A Concrete Block (SRW) Retaining Wall, Monroe, NY

StoneMakers Concrete – StoneMakers concrete retaining walls are built with high strength concrete and then textured to look like stone.

Price:$$$$, 3 out of 4Difficulty: ****, 4 out of 4

Pros:

Versatile – StoneMakers concrete retaining walls can be created in just about any shape you can dream up.

Strength – Normally a tie with block, but StoneMakers walls can be made thicker in areas where more strength is needed.

So you have been considering a swimming pool and have met with the gunite pool builder. Lets see if she told you everything?Did you know these 7 traits of concrete pools?

Incompatible with salt – That’s right folks. Concrete (Gunite and Shotcrete are just concrete placing methods) pools are not compatible with salt. The concrete pool dealers will tell you they are. But this is for a reason; they will sell you a new surface sooner. Salt eats away at a concrete pool in much the same way it does a concrete driveway. While this may take longer because it is dissolved, it still happens. Another reason salt eats the surface is because it is abrasive and with the water moving around so often that shell wears faster with salt in the water. By the way did you know that you would have to replace your concrete pool surface?

Surface is a wear item, you need to replace it – Now whether or not you have salt in your water a concrete pool will need to be resurfaced. At best 7-10 years is all that can be expected. Now keep in mind the price - $15,000 to $20,000 is a good starting point for a 15’ x 30’ pool.

Concrete cracks – As a NCMA certified mason I know this all too well. Cracks in concrete are to be expected and are considered a “feature” of concrete. When pouring a patio we can do things to hide these cracks by “pre cracking” the concrete with control joints. But in a pool this simply won’t do. So we end up with cracks where we don’t want them. Out west where the soil has less clay concrete cracks less – in pools too! But here in the north east with the freeze thaw cycles and clay content you can expect a crack failure to develop in your pool

Hard to heat – When it comes down to it concrete is just a ratio of sand, Portland cement, gravel and water. So basically it’s just hard dirt. And we all know that the ground stays the same temperature all year round. Having only concrete (which is hard dirt) insulate you from the ground (dirt) does nothing to keep heat in. In our own tests between two swimming pools of similar size. One a concrete pool using a 450,000 BTU heater and a Fiberglass (what type of insulation do you have in your attic) pool using a 150,000 BTU heater. We found that to raise the temperature from 65 degrees to 80 degrees took the concrete pool 3 full 24-hour days and only took the Fiberglass pool 8 hours. Both were in direct sun, but only one benefited from being an insulator from the ground temperature.

Build time – Now this can vary widely from contractor to contractor, but in general concrete pools take longer to build. A fiberglass pool with 4’ of concrete installed in a flat location will typically be ready in under 10 working days. A top Gunite builder will typically quote 30 days for the same project while most Gunite builders shy away from 30 days and commit to 90 days. In fact many gunite builders never actually build the pool themselves. Every portion is subbed out - Dig, Plumb, Steel, Gunnite/Shotcrete, Surface, Decking etc. Here at Albert Group we sub nothing. If we don't do it - we don't sell it to you.

Surface is rough – All you need to do is stick your hand in a concrete pool then a fiberglass pool to feel the difference yourself. The smoothest concrete pool surface is a cheese grader compared to fiberglass. Do you want your kids feet to look like this after one hour or volleyball in the pool?

Inconsistency of material used – Not all concrete is the same. If you know someone in the masonry trades ask them if every truck of concrete they have ever ordered is consistent. It’s not, that’s why it is considered an art. If concrete just always came in the way you wanted and did what you wanted it to do every time that would be great. But the fact is that you have to know how to work with it the way it comes in that batch. Everything can be a factor, humidity, drive time on the truck, was there leftovers from the last pour in his truck before he loaded you, is the truck sitting in the sun, is the project in the sun, windy, overcast, how many times did the barrel spin (there is a counter in the truck and you have to know it), did it rain last night (that would cool off the gravel).

Despite all these drawbacks concrete pools do have some distinct advantages. Size and shape can be whatever you desire.

Retaining walls come in several varieties. Some of the most common types are:

Wood or Tie walls

Concrete Block

Poured Concrete

SRW – Segmented Retaining Wall

Gabion

StoneMakers Concrete

Mafia Block

Wood Tie Walls

Wood tie wall are common with DIY’ers, they are not as common with the pro’s. These walls tend to have a shorter lifespan than the other methods listed here for a few reasons. Since they are wood and wood will rot most professionals do not see much upside in installing these. The material itself is only slightly less expensive than concrete so there is not much savings there. The amount of digging is the same so no savings there as well. They just install a little faster. For a 1-3’ tall wall that will be installed by yourself you might be happy with this type of wall. For taller walls consider a more permanent solution, doing these things twice can be very expensive.

Concrete Block walls

Concrete blocks look like the ones you remember being called cinder blocks as a kid. They are rarely made of cinders anymore but instead are made of concrete. Concrete Block walls can be used as a retaining wall however they are used more often as a load bearing wall. This is mainly because SRW’s and poured in place walls have taken over this market. Since a concrete block wall often times requires a substantial footing and loads of rebar and a lot of labor most pros would rather just pour that type of wall.

Poured concrete

Poured concrete walls are great when done correctly and disasters when corners are cut. One common mistake is to incorrectly lay the rebar inside the form, or use the wrong type or amount. As a homeowner it is important you have a contractor that doesn’t cheat here. If they do you will be paying to do it over. See the picture to the right. When it goes wrong there is no repairing it, just replacing it. That job was done by a contractor in Fishkill, NY and only lasted 3 months before it broke.

SRW

SRW’s installed correctly can be a great choice. The upside is that they are easy to install fairly easily. They are lightweight (usually around 100 lbs each) and they look good. The downside is that it is easy to skip steps such as burying courses, geo grid, properly compacting the base, etc. When these steps get skipped the project is in jeopardy. I have seen walls incorrectly installed fail completely.

Gabion

A gabion wall is made from a cage filled with rocks. These are pretty simple to do, and usually very strong. These are mostly done in industrial areas or by roads and bridges. They allow water to run right through them. The look of them can be debated but most homeowners do not like them for their back yard.

StoneMakers Concrete

StoneMakers concrete walls are only installed by a network of StoneMakers dealers so the downside is that you may not be able to find a dealer near you. This is constantly changing and chances are if you live in a moderately populated area there will be one. These walls take a lot of skill and know how that no homeowner would know without being taught. The wall because of the proprietary ingredients is much stronger than a normal concrete wall. This type of wall is also much more attractive, as the name implies you make the wall look like stone. This wall is a great choice for almost any retaining wall scenario and is what we use.

Mafia Blocks

Mafia Blocks get their name from the size resembling coffins. Aside from their unflattering name they are extremely heavy and require a medium to large excavator to lift or some other piece of equipment. They are great for making bins at the landscape supply yard to put mulch and gravel in. Most homeowners would not want these things in their backyard.

Well, we all know everything has a breaking point. The trick is getting a product where the breaking point is so far out of reach that you will never get near it. But the question stands – Why do fiberglass pools crack? There are a few different ways that a fiberglass pool will crack. I will attempt to give you my honest professional opinion here as to what I have witnessed. If you have seen something I missed please leave it in the comments. The more we all know the better off we all will be.

My top 7 reasons fiberglass pools crack.

Improper shipping support. I have seen this on a pool before and there is not much I can do about it once it gets to me but send it back from where it came from. Travelling down the road can place huge stresses on a fiberglass shell because of the bumps in the road. What happens sometimes is that a pool will be strapped improperly and this will allow significant distortion of the pool shell. Leisure pools are able to flex over one foot without damage, but they also let you know any more is not good. The cracks that form are sometimes referred to as spider cracking of the gel coat. This is unsightly and should be rejected although it poses no threat to the overall structural integrity and is only on the surface.

Improper gel coat thickness. Now this one is a strange phenomenon. Gel coat applied to thin will crack just as easily as gel coat applied to thick. I’m not a scientist, I don’t know exactly why this happens, it just does. There is a very small margin for error here so the factory must have quality control factors in place when manufacturing your pool.

Accidental Damage. Well that can be just about anything. The most common although almost nonexistent would be the run of the mill car accident. In the past 5 years I know of only one pool where the driver hit a low bridge. That will straight destroy anything so a pool is no different.

Pool shell too thin or just too weak. Some manufacturers build weak shells, it’s bad for the industry as a whole. But unfortunately that’s just how it is. If the shell is too thin or flexible it will flex past the ability of the gel coat to flex and cause a spider crack.

Low quality gel coat or even worse a gel coat alternative. Placing plastic on the inside of the pool and calling it a high end finish is getting more and more popular. Be wary of any pool that calls the inside of the pool “xyz finish”. That is not a true gel coat and has a been known to fade and just plain delaminate.

Pool not made level to begin with. If a pool shell is produced off a wood framed mold most likely that mold has warped over time. With varying humidity and temperatures this is unavoidable for these cheaper molds. The problem with that is that the factory gives the installer a set of dig plans and we dig the hole to exacting specifications. If the pool is not the shape it was designed to be the hole will be off and the pool will not be level. Once water is placed in the shell the pool will most likely find level because of the tremendous weight. This forcing of the pool into level will stress the shell and cause spider cracking at best and giant wall cracks and bulges at worst. Rumor is that one manufacturers shells are so far off that they recommend the installer use the excavator to push the uneven corners down then fill it.

Improper backfill and or installation. If you use sand you will come to regret it. Thing is, sand just is a pain to compact fully, especially 8' deep around a corner you can't see. Gravel comes out of a shovel 95% compacted and the rule is if you get to 98% you can build just about anything you want on it. Sand besides being hard to compact can wash away in wet conditions. If your pool builder says they will be using sand - run!

Notice I didn't say temprature. Cold temps have little to no affect under normal. Every fiberglass pool builder in the northeast has installed a pool in below freezing temps and they never have a problem. I remember at the end of 2010 just before Christmas breaking over 1000 pounds of ice that froze inside a pool that was waiting to get installed. I needed to get the ice out because it was too heavy to lift with it in and there was no problems smashing the ice with a sledge hammer. Thats because the gel coats and fiberglass itself have great cold weather properties. And that's why fiberglass pools are a great choice for upstate NY.

Got comments. Lets hear em!

Don't get stuck with low quality gel coat like this! Buy from people with integrity.

As a fiberglass pool installer in Orange County NY ,this is a question that I hear pretty often. For the longest time I would have had to say no. See, in the early days of fiberglass they had some obvious drawbacks. The 4 biggest drawbacks of fiberglass pools of old were.

The shapes often resembled that of a bath tub.

The gel coat colors were either white or some close variant to white like sky blue.

The mold technology was pretty lacking.

The Resins used actually absorbed water.

Can you believe that the pool on the left is still in production and has to compete with the pool on the right?

To be honest not every manufacturer has gotten all of these things fixed as of today. So let’s see what’s new in the fiberglass pool industry.

Shape:

Now I know that some of you are thinking that shape is something that cannot be graded and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And I would have to agree on some level, but when it comes to a pool shape is a little more important than that. Shape can affect how well a pool performs as well as how good it looks. For instance Leisure Pools adds a convenience ledge about two feet down from the coping on all of it’s pools. This simple change in shape allows children to easily move about the pool while providing a much stronger pool wall than the competition. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and you can now see Barrier Reef adding this feature in their pools as well.

Gel Coat Colors:

First a little definition – the gel coat of a pool is the part that you actually feel inside. Now color is another purely subjective topic. If you want a white pool plenty of guys make that and you will have no problem finding one. That being said who really wants a white pool anymore? No one I’ve spoken with in the past 5 years. Now why is it that so many fiberglass manufacturers only offer white or charge extra for colors thereby convincing you white is a better (cheaper) option. Simply because they have found it difficult to build a colored pool that will not fade. Now barrier reef which I liked above had some interesting language in their warranty.

“Barrier Reef Pools finish coat or gelcoat is warranted against blistering for a total of 15 years. This Warranty excludes discoloration, staining, fading, hairline cracks, blistering, surface yellowing or roughness after manufacture , where the cause is algae infestation, calcium scale or other mineral or vegetation deposits or faults arising from misuse or abuse of the surface or the maintenance of incorrect water balances.”

Now right there they excluded just about everything that can happen to a surface of a pool. Read that again, The first sentence warrants blisters and the second takes it away. That’s pretty fancy wording if you ask me. They go on to say that this applies only if your water balance is off. Well folks I have never tested pool water from a homeowner that maintained it themselves and had it come out “perfect” every single time.

Mold Technology:

This is where Leisure Pools has really set the pace so to speak. Industry standard is to build a fiberglass pool mold on a wood frame. The problem with this type of manufacturer is that wood warps, plain and simple. For instance here in the Hudson Valley, NY we have weather extremes and I see decks all the time that look good one year and look like crap the next. The handrails don’t look straight anymore, the floor looks uneven etc. This is because the wood warped from month to month. A real good deck builder can help prevent this by placing the “cupping” in a certain direction but that’s some next level stuff, and I don’t build decks. This guy does build decks and he does a great job. Back on track, you can see how a wood frame will warp. Leisure Pools uses only steel frames on all of their fiberglass pool molds, it costs more but you end up with a perfect pool.

Resin:

Now we are getting into the science of things here. This is the stuff that gets me excited. Well that and riding my Harley. But seriously - resin is extremely important. Except for the gel coat layer of the pool every other layer will contain resin. Some companies use multiple types of resin depending on the layer. The key thing to remember is that Vinyl Ester resins do not absorb water and most other resins do. That being said Leisure Pools is the only company that uses Vinyl Ester resins in every layer of their pool. The reason you want a resin that does not absorb water is simple. If your pool shell absorbs water the surface will probably blister. Knowing this some companies will use Vinyl Ester resin on the first inside layer but polyester resin on the subsequent layers. In theory that’s great, this stops the pool water from getting in the other layers. The problem is if you have ground water. If the back of the pool is not protected as well, then you have the risk of groundwater entering the shell and causing a blister.

So now that that’s done. Are Fiberglass Swimming Pools any Good? As you can see, it depends on the manufacturer. While some like Leisure Pools are excellent some others are not as good. Leave your comments and sign up for our blog.

In the race to build the most technologically advanced and structurally sound swimming pool one company has clearly positioned themselves as the leader. Not content with producing the best fiberglass swimming pool on the market Leisure Pools has raised the bar once again.

Introducing Composite Armor (or Armour if you are an Aussie)

Leisure pools has recently introduced Composite Armor to its line of fiberglass swimming pools. This Patented technology is comprised of Carbon Fiber, Basalt Fiber and DuPont Kevlar. Incorporating these hi -tech fibers to your swimming pool provides significant advantages over the competition.

3 reasons why Composite armor is the best choice for your new swimming pool.

Strength – Carbon Fiber and Kevlar are the go-to materials for super strong construction. There is a reason that bullet proof vests and helmets made from DuPont Kevlar have been standard issue for US combat soldiers for decades.

Light weight – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner which seats up to 290 people and cost $32 Billion to design is Boeing’s most fuel efficient airliner and the world’s first airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction. Now this same technology is available in your swimming pool only 3 years later.

Flexibility – Here in the northeast, Monroe, NY to be specific we have seen some extreme weather in the last few years. This abundance of rain coupled with times of drought cause the ground to expand and contract. Having a composite based pool vs concrete (gunite) or a vinyl liner pool is a huge advantage. The repair process on a crack in a gunite pool can be quite a process.

For those of you that have pulled the trigger on a weekend home in the Catskills – you already know how rewarding it is. So bear with me while I bring everyone else up to speed.

Owning a weekend home in Orange, Dutchess or Sullivan County becomes a way of life. A place where you can step back in time, wind down from the energetic pace of NYC and simply recharge. Taking a stroll through a wooded path in the spring or snow shooing in the winter becomes a weekly affair. As a landscape designer, and swimming pool builder I have had the opportunity to meet many clients that know firsthand the benefits of owning an upstate home.

This past weekend I went and visited a client of mine that put a pool in last year and she made a comment that inspired me to write this article. We were talking about the pool and she said “It’s like going on a vacation every week”. That comment really made me feel good. I am glad I was able to be a part of transforming her upstate home to her private resort.

Concrete block has long been a reliable method for constructing home beautification projects. Done correctly, a project using this method can be solid and durable. However, StoneMakers has created a proprietary concrete mix that trumps concrete block in several ways, most importantly, in durability, cost effectiveness and aesthetics.

Concrete block is made from poured concrete, and is typically composed of cement, sand and gravel aggregate. The blocks used to form foundations are hollow, and when stacked on top of one another you can see through the center of the foundation. The voids are normally filled with a cement-based mortar or poured concrete containing small pieces of gravel.

Concrete block has a large amount of compressive strength; however, when it is subjected to some sort of tension or stretching force, that strength is reduced by up to 90 percent. As soil, for instance, pushes against a retaining wall built in this method, tension is created that can eventually lead to a failure. Concrete block is also susceptible to decay due to moisture, so a waterproofing system has to be applied after the completion of a project.

StoneMakers’ propriety concrete product has the look and feel of real stone and is much stronger than traditional concrete block. Rather than relying on concrete blocks held together by mortar, a retaining wall, for example, built with StoneMakers concrete is one solid mass tied together with rebar, which makes it longer lasting, curing out at the incomparable strength of between, 6,000-8,000 PSI. No concrete building material in the industry can come close.

And the cost savings are just as impressive. Because artisans can build project using the StoneMakers product so much faster than by using typical concrete block, homeowners can save staggering sums of money. Since most projects are charged by the hour, the potential savings should be readily apparent.

Aesthetically, there also is no comparison between StoneMakers concrete and the traditional concrete block method. With the latter, you get exactly that – a project that looks like concrete blocks. But with StoneMakers, we can completely custom color and design options that, basically, are only limited by your imagination. We can shape StoneMakers concrete into almost any design, and make it just about any color you can think of.

If you are considering a home beautification project using concrete block, do not proceed any farther until you call us at (845) 283-8787. We can tell you how, by using the StoneMakers proprietary concrete mix, we can build a project for you that will cost much less, and take much less more time, than one using concrete block.

You’ve worked long and hard to afford the home of your dreams, and you’ve carefully and patiently made every inch of the inside something that truly reflects who you are. You should rightfully be proud of all you’ve accomplished.

And while there’s always something to tweak or change outright inside your home, now might be a good time to focus on the outside; to start concentrating your efforts on make the outside of your home reflect your individuality just as the inside does.

Thanks to StoneMakers’ new revolutionary and proprietary concrete mix, outdoor home beautification projects can be constructed to be more unique than ever before.

We recently became converts to the StoneMakers product line, and are extremely proud to be a certified StoneMakers dealer. With their innovative concrete mix, we can create much more varied hardscape designs than ever before. No matter what the project – a water feature, outdoor fireplace, walkway, patio, whatever – we can construct a custom, hand-crafted project that will be completely unique to you. We can build you a bench shaped like a tree if you like. If you want, we can build a waterfall that looks like cliff rock. Just about any shape you can imagine, we can build. And in just about any color you can imagine as well.

The beauty of natural stone is undeniable, but the price tag that comes along with it is another matter entirely. Properly installing stone used to be an incredibly time consuming and expensive proposition, but that is no longer the case Whatever your project, we can make it look like natural stone by using traditional concrete combined with the StoneMakers mix – and do it at a much, much lower price than if real stone was involved. And since StoneMakers has been perfecting their product for the last 25 years to mimic the look and feel of natural stone, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference.

StoneMakers brings homeowners all the benefits of natural stone, but with the strength of concrete – and without the cost of traditional stonework. We could not be more excited about this product. Call us at (845) 283-8787 and let us share that excitement with you.

A home beautification project like a walkway, patio, waterfall, retaining wall or the like not only makes your home’s outdoor area look spectacular, it’s also one of the best things you can do to increase the value of your home. Projects like these can significantly increase the amount of money you put in your pocket should you one day decide to sell the home.

So in order to maximize the potential return on that investment in a beautification project, it needs to not only be aesthetically pleasing, obviously, it also needs to be durable and efficiently constructed so you’re not wasting your money on a long, drawn-out ordeal. Construction projects involving StoneMakers’ revolutionary concrete mix fulfill all three of those requirements.

Take the example of a retaining wall. The majority of homeowners who want a wall constructed want it to appear monolithic, looking like one continuous piece. It sounds pretty easy to build such a wall, but it’s impossible to do so unless the concrete used can stand on it’s own without forms. You could have one built the traditional way, either with forms or by using concrete blocks (and then later add some sort of veneer), but it wouldn’t be monolithic, and it would be very expensive.

By using StoneMakers’ proprietary concrete mix, however, we can create a monolithic wall, patio or other beautification project without forms. Plus, we can add texture, create it in the form of just about any shape you can imagine, and do it in just about any color.

But the best part is, compared to traditional concrete, a project constructed using the StoneMakers mix is incredibly quicker to build. We did a retaining wall for a homeowner that was 75 feet long and four feet tall. Using typical concrete, that wall would have taken about three days for our crew to build. But by using the StoneMakers mix, we were able to finish that job in less than six hours. That, put simply, is astounding. It doesn’t take much more than very simple math to figure out the cost savings involved using the StoneMakers mix when you’re paying by the hour.

In addition, StoneMakers concrete is much more durable than traditional concrete, and doesn’t require nearly the amount of maintenance. So when you decide the time is right to tackle that home beautification project you’ve been thinking of, give us a call at (845) 283-8787 and we’ll show you how we can build the project of your dreams at a fraction of what you might expect to pay.